Scanners

At DRCMR we have seven MR scanners including a 7T scanner

The MR scanners at the DRCMR are used differently since their characteristics vary. They each have a fixed magnetic field strength between 1.5 and 7.0 tesla (T). These fields are incredibly strong, up to around 140,000 times the earth magnetic field. They are used to literally magnetize the scanned persons. Even at such strong fields, the tissue magnetization is very weak, and the fields have no adverse biological effects. Strong fields are generally needed since the measured signal increase with field strength. Higher field is not always an advantage, but some measurements benefit a lot, for example mapping of brain function (fMRI) and MR spectroscopy, where a range of molecules are measured separately. Another difference between the scanners is size. Only rodents fit in the preclinical scanner whereas humans are scanned in the others. The scanners also vary with respect to age, location, manufacturer and technical specifications, and are therefore used differently. Most are used both clinically and for research. Here is a brief overview.